Positive turn to Indo-Lanka ties

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s visit to India has triggered optimism for the future of India-Sri Lanka relations.

Bilateral ties frayed during the rule of his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose cosying up to China especially on defence matters triggered alarm in Delhi. During his election campaign, Sirisena promised to balance relations between India and China. His visit is a step in that direction.

Four agreements were signed. The one on civil nuclear cooperation, which signals that Sri Lanka has overcome its doubts regarding India’s nuclear programme to work with Delhi on the matter, is significant.

This and the enhanced defence cooperation via a trilateral framework that includes the Maldives are expected to counter China’s influence over the island-nation. However, given China’s increasingly important role in Sri Lanka, the latter’s need for funds to finance its development of infrastructure and Delhi’s limitations in helping Colombo in this regard, it will be difficult for India to match China in Sri Lanka. While keeping a watchful eye on Chinese military presence in Sri Lanka, India must avoid criticising Colombo on its choice of infrastructure and economic development.

Several issues that merit Delhi and Colombo’s immediate attention received cursory or no mention in the media statement issued at the end of Sirisena’s trip. One is the row over Indian fishermen trawling in Sri Lankan waters.

A dialogue on this must be set in motion immediately. The quest for a political solution to the island’s ethnic conflict, which Rajapaksa ignored despite India’s repeated urging, needs to make progress under Sirisena. The new president has taken several reconciliatory steps including freeing Tamil rebel suspects in custody for years without trial.

His government has promised an internal domestic mechanism within two months to probe human rights violations during the war and seems more willing to cooperate with the international community in probes into suspected war crimes. The UN Human Rights Commission has put off publishing an updated report on the issue.

India must use its influence on Sri Lanka to ensure that it sets up a credible investigation. A genuinely independent inquiry will make the guilty accountable and serve the interests of justice. In Sri Lanka, this is the key to reconciliation with the beleaguered Tamils.

The Narendra Modi government needs to exert friendly pressure on Colombo if required. This is because reconciliation and a political solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka will ultimately benefit India and the region.